Do tacky Hawaiian shirts with scantily clad women on them prevent dissuade women from entering scientific fields? Or does the fact that so many women appear to be too easily distracted politically incorrect fashion to focus on technological achievements play a larger role in their under-representation in the realm?

I would have to say no to the former and yes to the latter. For one thing, men think more logically and mathematically(on average,) whereas women are more emotional. That’s why men excel in these fields. Science and mathematics are emotionless. They don’t care what gender you are and all that matters is if you can deliver the empirical data.

If anything, there is a tremendous amount of societal pressure to get women into these areas. Tech companies salivate at the prospect of the PR they could get from being able to show how diversity friendly they are. It’s much easier to get women into the marketing and finance areas though where there are a lot of different ways for a person to be effective. In technology, you either can solve the equations or you can’t. You either know the programming language, or you don’t. Also, to reach a high level of technical expertise(to the extent that you would have a prominent position)requires an incredibly daunting commitment to learning. If a woman takes a break to have a couple kids, she’s going to be way behind.

There’s a reason why the stereotype of the “computer programmer geek” exists. It’s because one often has to sacrifice any social life or dating starting at a young age, to dedicate themselves to master these incredibly tedious and complicated subjects. Sometimes this is done involuntarily(a kid sucks at sports and is awkward so he stays inside and starts reading astronomy books.) Even unattractive women typically always have plenty of attention. Rarely are they forced to become so completely isolated to where they would build a high tolerance to boring subjects and turn their energy to weird science junk.

I don’t consider myself a nerd or a bad looking guy, but I can easily look back at time periods in my life where I went 6 months without hanging out with or talking to anyone and became enveloped in my own tedious(non-scientific) projects. A lot of girls can’t even watch an old black and white movie 20 minutes without getting bored and looking at their smartphone. They’re just not used to it.

Any woman who wants to enter the tech industry would be welcomed if she has the answers. It’s just not something you can BS your way through. Either you can program the spaceship’s master computer or you can’t. Getting a job at most normal companies is based on personality and background credentials. If you want to work in a technical job at Microsoft or SpaceX, you will undergo rigorous testing and you will have to prove exactly what you know. Spend a few years alone in your room taking apart and putting back together old alarm clocks, and see if you’ve got what it takes to someday wear that shirt.